She was right, I hadn’t. I didn’t want her to think I didn’t value the people who’d brought me up, and I didn’t want her to think I loved her any less because I was curious. An image flashed through my head, of Dave, there in the hotel lobby in Macon. I hadn’t wanted to talk to him about finding my father for the same stupid reason. Poor Dave. He has his questions, but he’s so happy to have us both back that he doesn’t ask them. I love that about him. I love him more than I think I could love him even if he were my biological father. Family is family, and I say he’s part of mine.

I could have gone on—I could have said more, and said it pointedly. I could have told her that I finally understood. But what would be the point? She didn’t talk about Leslie because it was hard and it hurt her. I love Lulu, and I’m glad I could save her, but things are different now. She’s lost her secrets and I’ve lost my ignorance. And now there’s a wall between me and her. It’s not like the one she set up to keep her own mother at bay, but it’s there all the same. I’m not sure what it’s made of, and I don’t know how to knock it down, but every day I seek some way to climb it.

I made my first move a few weeks later, when I invited her to join me at a coffee shop downtown. I showed up early.

Ms. Finley was waiting at one of the small round tables by the door. She smiled when I came in, and her smile turned puzzled when I handed her the bag. The grin went bright again when she looked inside.

“Where’d you pick this up?”

“Atlanta. Went there for a concert last week. I hope it’s the right color.”

“Can’t go wrong with bone. Good shade for an old broad. Matches just about everything and dresses up nice. I think my old one had brass buttons, but I don’t remember. This is nice, thank you. What’s the occasion?”

“I just wanted you to talk.”

“Why me? I gave you just about everything I could, though I’m happy to come out and be social. And of course, I thank you for the sweater.”

“You’re welcome, Rhonda. Thing is, this time, the talking isn’t exactly for me.”

Lulu’s tall shape cast a shadow past our table as she breezed by the big window and reached for the coffee shop door. She nodded at me, then at my table-mate, though her forehead was wrinkled with curiosity.